Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) Trading Down 5.9% on Analyst Downgrade

Shares of The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL) fell 5.9% on Wednesday after Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on the stock from $85.00 to $81.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Estée Lauder Companies traded as low as $66.13 and last traded at $65.38. 3,306,247 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 15% from the average session volume of 3,867,091 shares. The stock had previously closed at $69.47.

EL has been the topic of several other reports. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their price target on Estée Lauder Companies from $76.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Estée Lauder Companies from $95.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective on shares of Estée Lauder Companies in a report on Tuesday. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Estée Lauder Companies has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.00.

Insider Activity at Estée Lauder Companies

In other Estée Lauder Companies news, Director Paul J. Fribourg acquired 75,500 shares of Estée Lauder Companies stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were bought at an average price of $64.93 per share, with a total value of $4,902,215.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 310,000 shares in the company, valued at $20,128,300. This trade represents a 32.20 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 12.78% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Estée Lauder Companies

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Estée Lauder Companies by 9.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,575,926 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,054,314,000 after purchasing an additional 913,470 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 79.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,723,746 shares of the company’s stock worth $570,600,000 after acquiring an additional 2,533,006 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,996,404 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,630,000 after acquiring an additional 954,493 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,679,154 shares of the company’s stock worth $464,587,000 after acquiring an additional 70,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Estée Lauder Companies by 81.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,971,550 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,807,000 after acquiring an additional 1,330,840 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.15% of the company’s stock.

Estée Lauder Companies Trading Down 2.4 %

The company has a market cap of $23.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 114.89, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.44. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.05 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.39.

Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE:EL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The company reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.30. The company had revenue of $4 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.98 billion. Estée Lauder Companies had a return on equity of 17.31% and a net margin of 1.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Estée Lauder Companies Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. Estée Lauder Companies’s dividend payout ratio is presently 250.00%.

About Estée Lauder Companies

The Estée Lauder Companies Inc manufactures, markets, and sells skin care, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products worldwide. It offers skin care products, including moisturizers, serums, cleansers, toners, body care, exfoliators, acne care and oil correctors, facial masks, and sun care products; and makeup products, such as lipsticks, lip glosses, mascaras, foundations, eyeshadows, and powders, as well as compacts, brushes, and other makeup tools.